Ask the Author: Nadine A. Block
Answered Questions (7)
Nadine A. Block
I did some geneology on my family in Wisconsin and privately published in 2012 a book, Our Family: Wisconsin Pioneers, a story of our German ancestors who settled in North Central Wisconsin in the l800's. My grandchildren enjoyed it and used it for their class assignments on the Family Tree. I heard one of my grandchildren complain about his chores at home like taking out the garbage and emptying wastebaskets. I thought, "You have no idea of what W-O-R-K is. Some day I will write what it was like growing up on my fourth generation dairy farm...hard work in fields and gardens, dangerous machinery, and little time to play." About five years ago, I started writing chapters and sent them by email to my far-flung four siblings who added their memories and sometimes questioned mine. Covid
kept me at home like so many others and I finally got it finished. The book is Remembering Rosie: Memories of a Wisconsin Farm Girl. It has gotten excellent reviews by Kirkus Reviews, Midwest Book Reviews, and on Amazon and Goodreads. Hope you enjoy it.
kept me at home like so many others and I finally got it finished. The book is Remembering Rosie: Memories of a Wisconsin Farm Girl. It has gotten excellent reviews by Kirkus Reviews, Midwest Book Reviews, and on Amazon and Goodreads. Hope you enjoy it.
Nadine A. Block
“Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration” goes the old saying by Thomas Edison.
You have to have a story that you believe must be told. But after that, it's just hard work.
You have to have a story that you believe must be told. But after that, it's just hard work.
Nadine A. Block
I think I would like to go to Utopia...I would really like the perfection I found there. I would meet so many happy, well-fed, interesting, and educated people. There would be no sickness or death. No hate. Every view would be beautiful. My newspaper would come on time every day. It would be wonderful for awhile.
I would get bored and couldn't wait to leave.
I would get bored and couldn't wait to leave.
Nadine A. Block
I love this quote and hope that I am this kind of writer. It gives a purpose to being a writer.
“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. So part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won't really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. Another part of us thinks we'll figure out a way to divert the ocean. This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. So part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won't really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. Another part of us thinks we'll figure out a way to divert the ocean. This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Nadine A. Block
Whispers, The Child, The Girl In The Letter are books being read over the summer in one of my book clubs.
Indivisible, One Person, No Vote are being read in my other book club. They all look like great books.
Indivisible, One Person, No Vote are being read in my other book club. They all look like great books.
Nadine A. Block
I dealt with it writing my newest
book, Remembering Rosie: Memories of a Wisconsin Farm Girl, by walking away from it for a few months and taking more art classes or working on an exhibit. In my retirement, I have been busy writing and learning to paint. When I run out of steam on one, I go happily into the other.
In my previous books on ending corporal punishment of children,
I had a cause. I wanted to end corporal punishment of children and led a successful campaign to end school paddling in Ohio. I was afraid if I didn't capture my experiences and put them down, what had happened would be forgotten. I couldn't pour out the words fast enough.
book, Remembering Rosie: Memories of a Wisconsin Farm Girl, by walking away from it for a few months and taking more art classes or working on an exhibit. In my retirement, I have been busy writing and learning to paint. When I run out of steam on one, I go happily into the other.
In my previous books on ending corporal punishment of children,
I had a cause. I wanted to end corporal punishment of children and led a successful campaign to end school paddling in Ohio. I was afraid if I didn't capture my experiences and put them down, what had happened would be forgotten. I couldn't pour out the words fast enough.
Nadine A. Block
I want to tell stories that should not be forgotten. My previous books were about the need to end corporal punishment of children. My book, Breaking the Paddle: Ending School Corporal punishment was about a successful campaign to end paddling of school children in OH. I wanted people to remember what we used to do (and 19 states still allow). It is now being used by an activist group in AR which is trying to end the practice there. My book This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You: In Words and Pictures Children Share How Spanking Hurts and What To Do In stead is a book of children's own words and illustrations. It is often used in parenting groups to develop rapport and not use a lecturer who tells reasons not to spank, but rather lets children tell the story. Child abuse prevention and intervention groups use it.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more